On Defining Play: An Empirical Study of the Relationship between Play and Various Play Criteria.

Smith, Peter K.; Vollstedt, Ralph

Child Development, v56 n4 p1042-50 Aug 1985

Five common play criteria were applied by subjects to a videotape of nursery school children's behavior, rated separately for occurrence of play. The idea that play is best predicted by a combination of criteria was supported by the finding that, when more criteria occurred simultaneously, the more certainly a judgment of play was implied. (Author/RH)